


Rescue

by Rakath



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi: Next Class
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 13:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rakath/pseuds/Rakath
Summary: HugeIfTrue, but Lola's gotten herself tangled up in Maya instead of Miles. More AU notes in the fic.





	Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> So because of how Lola seems more attuned to the emotional states of others, if she had found Maya in 302 instead of Frankie and Shay, she'd probably pester the poor girl until the end of time trying to make sure she's okay. Lola's just like that.
> 
> And Lola's friends suck at emotions, and caring, like... that's a throughline all season.
> 
> The only other real AU note is that Miles is a lot creepier and darker this season than he would normally be? Cause he doesn't have Lola. So he's kinda fallen into all his darkest thoughts and his play is really unnerving for everyone involved. Generally he's not doing well. But that's not the point of this fic.

> save me

Two little words were all she got as a text, no punctuation.

No emoji.

The latter of those two points were what decided her next course of action. She knew where Lola was, Lola floated the idea of asking Frankie and Shay if they could have a fourth for their girl's night. Maya said it wasn't worth it, she would just make it weird.

And now, Lola was sending her a text with just two words.

> save me

Lola found Maya, all alone, one day at school. And then she never left her be. Everything in Maya's head had her push the younger girl away. But Lola, in a surprising twist, was stubborn and kind. She didn't leave, she might talk a bit too much, have no taste in music. But…

She stayed. She listened when Maya spoke, and sometime was just there without either saying anything. She seemed bothered by Saad's pictures, but more about what they contained than what they were. ‘I didn't know someone could be this hurt.’ And just having someone who listened, it was nice.

All Lola needed in return was confirmation. That her pain was real, however shallow the cuts. But Maya knew what it was to be unable to celebrate her friends and their happiness, the way they wanted her to. To watch the boy you liked, and a girl you would do anything for, be together.

Which explained why she was summoned, to the Hollingsworth home, to rescue Lola. She could see from the patio into the living room that ‘Girl's night’ had expanded to a half dozen people now. And when she reached the door she could see Lola in pajamas, and everyone else not.

Maya's sure she shouldn't be here, and yet… who else will save Lola from her friends? So Maya opened the doors and came in. Every eye in the room fell on her.

Lola silently mouthed the words ‘thank you’ over and over, the moment someone looked her way she sipped at her beer. Frankie and Shay were confused. Tiny confused and terrified, he was always smart, knowing that nothing here could end well. Jonah and Zig were uneasy, Grace angry, and Esme- 

“What's  _ she _ doing here?”

“Frankie and Shay invited people, who invited other people, so I invited someone. That's okay, right?” Lola said, her eyes were locked on Shay even as she answered Esme.

“Uh- sure?” Frankie answered, suddenly aware things had gotten completely out of hand.

“So Lola calls you come running, but you can't bother to give me the time of day?” Grace's shot, ignoring the rest of the party, eyes on Maya.

“Maybe we should all just- take a step back?” Tiny asked as he lifted the pizza box, “Slice?”

Maya almost smiled as she took a slice and sat next to Lola. This seemed to just make everything worse, for everyone that wasn't Lola. Lola leaned on Maya. To cover her words, “I don't think I could get through this without someone one my side.”

Maya was on her side? Maya had been trying to push Lola away since she started, but- she also didn't hate the idea either. Maya used to have friends the way Lola did, who kinda used her but she still loved them. They'd all… gone their separate ways now. Moved away, cheated on her, in a coma. But if any asked her for something she'd do it. Even if she couldn't ask the same of them.

***

Games like ‘never have I ever’ and ‘truth or dare’ were terrible ideas. This was a powder keg of energy and everyone had some beef. Everyone could feel that too. Tiny and Lola going up to the closet seemed to make things worse.

Not having Jonah or Frankie, two people who somehow ended up reasonable by comparison, wasn't helping matters.

“Everyone knows she's uptight,” Esme said, “We both get good grades, I just have more fun.”

Shay stormed off in the same direction Lola and Tiny vanished off to.

“Can't imagine why, you tried to lock her in a closet to make her uncomfortable. Then you put him with her best friend.” Maya muttered as she worked on her second slice.

“Why is she even here?” Esme demanded of Zig, who did his best to calm Esme down.

“Why are you here, Matlin?” Grace said, leaning forward.

Maya didn't answer, she just looked at Grace.

“You bailed on me every time we tried to hang out. You completely ditched us on Miles's play. It wouldn't even be Miles's play if you had been around. But Lola texts and you come running over? Why are you here?”

Maya didn't know how to answer, every time Grace called it felt like another weight dragging her to the bottom of the sea. At first she showed up, but it was always ‘make this sound better’ and ‘can you help us with this.’ Even at lunch they couldn't bother to ask how Maya was doing, but oh did they need her understanding of obscure chord progressions. It was all just- too hard.

“I-” eventually Maya found her voice, just in time for a pajama clad girl to storm up.

“Can you, um, get me out of here?” Lola slipped her hand into Maya's, squeezing. Lola was a touchy feely sort, but she respected Maya's current aversion to it. Except now, and it was clear. Whatever Maya missed upstairs, Lola needed her. And Lola didn't seem to have anyone.

“Sure, let's go.”

Maya could feel eyes on them as they left. It just didn't matter.

***

“So… what happened?”

The car felt too quiet leaving the whole evening hanging, so Maya did ask the question. She was pretty sure what it was, but she didn't want it to be.

“Shay accused me of trying to steal Tiny from her. And I think she called me a slut?”

That sounded right, “So, where to?”

Lola thought a moment and then started swearing, in Spanish. Maya's Spanish was rusty but she could get the general idea.

“You're not stupid, Lola.”

“I don't have my pants, which means I don't have my keys.”

Lola left in her pajamas, it was definitely a look, but things were so uneasy neither of them wanted to interrupt Frankie and Jonah's whatever to get Lola's stuff back. “You can crash at my place, then I'll go get your stuff from Frankie if you're not up for it.”

“That's- really okay? You're kinda, um, you've got a lot going on so I don't-”

“It's fine. So I take it this wasn't meant to be a party.”

“Shay and Frankie invited their boyfriends, who invited their friends.”

Pretty much what Maya figured, “So you invited me, does that make me your boyfriend.”

“I'd be lucky to have someone like you.”

Maya fell silent and drove.

“I mean it, sure you're going through stuff. You're a bit creepy now, but not because you wanna hurt anyone. You're just,” Lola moved around in her seat, as if the words she wanted fell into the cushions or to the floor. “in a lot of pain.”

“I'm not, I wish I was.”

Lola waited.

“Everything just sorta- stopped feeling like anything. Esme's hating me for being Zig's ex, Grace hating me for never being around. Videos online of people suffering, I don't feel any of it. The only things I feel are Saad's photos and-” Maya glanced over, Lola was watching, attention fully on her, “I felt- bad- your friends treated you like that. You're really nice to people and didn't deserve that.”

Lola's voice was small, for her, she normally fills any room but she barely filled the car, “Thank you.”

***

“So you can have Katie's room, if you want.”

“Maybe I could sleep in here? With you?”

“I don't think you want that, I don't really sleep at night. And when I do-”

“I don't care.”

“You don't even know what I was going to say.”

Lola looked at Maya, waiting.

“I don't sleep, and when I do I usually wake up to nightmares.”

“Oh. In that case. I don't care.”

Maya almost smiled.

“I- kinda don't wanna be alone. And your bed might not be as big as Frankie's but we're both super skinny and if we cuddle there's totally enough space.”

Maya shrugged, slipping out of her clothes quickly to put her own pajamas on. Not caring if Lola saw her.

“Are those from the crash?”

Oh. Those. Maya didn't say anything.

Lola came over and touched the skin around Maya's scars, on her back. Everyone acted like nothing had changed, but Maya could always look in the mirror and just- know, it wasn't the same. Even without Tris, without that weight in her mind, she wasn't who she was before anymore.

And she couldn't fix it.

However, right now, was different. She felt Lola's fingertips on her skin. Nobody had touched her, like that, in a long time. Nobody had just brushed their finger over her old wounds. Just being near her. It wasn't sparks, but it was- real. “Do that again.”

Lola moved in front of Maya, looking at her as she brushed her fingers over Maya's back again. Fingers moving around the dulled nerves of her scars.

“Touch me somewhere else.”

Lola's hand ran up Maya's arm. It was a little more conventional so it felt less real than the other touches. So Maya moved Lola's hand from her arm somewhere else. Which Lola didn't seem to have a problem with. And that feeling was even more there than on her back.

Now, given where Lola's hand was, Maya shouldn't be too surprised Lola kissed her. She was, but it also felt like something. So Maya didn't have a problem going down that road. Lola was cute, not that it mattered, anything to let her feel again. And if that meant sex with a cute girl in panda pajamas, so be it.

***

Maya was alone in bed in the morning. She rolled over to see Lola standing there in one of her longer tank tops. The height difference meant it was dress enough that nothing of Lola was showing. Lola had Maya's glasses in her hands.

What was left of them.

“I tried finding new ones, but nothing I tried on made me look right. It was always like…”

“Someone else was looking at you in the mirror.”

Maya stared for a moment, “Yeah.”

Lola put them back on the dresser and crawled into bed with Maya. “That's me with my hair. I mean, I want someone new looking at me in the mirror. Sometimes.”

“What made you change it?”

“Mom leaving. Wanting to put the whole Degrassi Nudes thing behind me. Tiny. The bus crash, is that why you wear your hair straight?”

Maya shrugged. “I guess.”

Lola scooted into Maya's arms. Maya was surprised how easily she let the other girl cuddle up to her.

“About last night.”

“I never really thought my first time would be with a girl. Just so she could feel something.”

Maya paused, “You knew I was using you?”

“I wanted to help, and you did save me.”

“But- why?”

“You needed it. And, like, you're super hot?”

“I mean knowing that I can't- I don't know if I can love anyone.”

“You care enough. Even if you can't always see it. Plus, I didn't put my hand on your tits.”

Okay, there was that. “Still, your first time.”

“Was with someone who came to save me.”

Maya wanted to protest, but Lola was four steps better on life choices than she was, when it came to first times. And, selfishly, she liked feeling.

“I can make breakfast, then we can go get my stuff?”

Maya watched Lola for a moment.

“Unless you have another idea.”

Maya wasn't sure how to ask, so she just said it. “Can you run your hand over my back. I wanna feel some more before we get up?”

Lola smiled, “If you need someone to touch you, you just need to ask.”

The pair scooted apart so Maya could slip her shirt off, and lay back down...

**Author's Note:**

> So with all those notes from the top in mind, I thought about HugeIfTrue, and how alone and scared Lola would be here. Nobody who gets her, her friends basically pushing her away. Lola storming out of the party after the fight with Shay to just leave with Maya felt... right.
> 
> And as much as Maya's a hot mess, she's still got the desire to save people in trouble, she's still Maya. Just- lost in herself. She also wouldn't be very good at defending herself, thus Grace calling her out would just be Maya sitting there and taking it. Cause she is so lost, she wouldn't be able to say what's on her mind.
> 
> As for Lola and Maya having sex, this isn't meant to be romantic (Lola is romanticizing it though), it's needy and a little grim. A new way for Maya to find feelings she's otherwise having issues finding. And Lola's doing it cause Maya needs her, and- Lola doesn't want to be alone. I also wanted to keep to the plot beats of HugeIfTrue as close as I could? And I could see both girls wanting sex for their own reasons (Maya to feel, Lola to feel wanted).


End file.
